Our Five in a Row Adventures

Vol. 3

This is the second time to row this book.

Highlights: Bees were definately the hit of this unit.
*While reading the book the kids drew a map from the of the action in the story. It was really interesting comparing the three maps together and noticing the different details that each picked up on.
*The kids went on a nature hunt and then made the pine cone bee craft from the archives with their finds.
*We also made beeswax candles by rolling sheets of colored beeswax around candle wicking. The kids gave these to their aunt and grandparents for the holidays.
* We took a field trip to a local apiary. We saw a short film about bees, and honey extracting machines, the honey bottling kitchen, and the working bee hives. At the end of the tour each person was given a bottle of honey and the children received a flavored honey stick. Even though it was early fall, productions of gift baskets for the holidays was well on the way.

Additional Books and Videos used:

The Honey Makers - Gail Gibbons
OK Honey Farm presents Cassie Bee - Margie Snowden North
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We had not done this book for several years, so we enjoyed this re-visit to a favorite book.

Highlights:
We have rowed this book twice. The first time we spent most of the week studying the circus - using activities and color sheets from the Ringling Bros and Barnum and Bailey Circus teacher packet. The second time we had fun with frogs!

Additional Books used:

Taddy the Toad - Jane Burton
Frog - Rebecca Stefoff
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Highlights:
The girls have all loved this story, feeling for the horses hardships and thinking it would be fun live on Sweetbriar island.

Again, Art was one our favorite lessons. The girls spattered white paint on a drawing for snow. This lesson made for an afternoon of fun and giggles!

My horse-crazy dd also loved learning about the Chincoteaque and Assateague horses. We watched a pbs docuementary about the wild horses.

Additional books used:

Keep the Lights Burning Abbie -- Peter and Connie Roop
Island Boy -- Barbara Cooney
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This is one book we had never done before because our library system did not have it. But once we got it ILL it was a must have! The pictures are fantastic - an instant hit at our house!

Highligts:
* We spent a couple of days on the American Revelation.

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This is a delightful book. Only after having a son after 4 daughters do I fully appreciate Henry! I had found Henry the Explorer and Henry Explores the Jungle at a library sale last summer and we enjoyed going along for further adventures after reading Henry the Castaway.

Highligts:
*We studied Kingfisher birds, as the girls love learning to identify local birds. Our computer encyclopedia has a bird identiication game that kept them all occupied for two days.

Additional books used:

Henry Explores the Jungle by Mark Taylor
Henry Explores the Mountain by Mark Taylor
Henry the Explorer by Mark Taylor
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GeoSafari Cards: Ants (Regular/Jr) (Laptop)
Insect or Not An Insect (Regular/Jr) (Laptop)

Highlights: Studying "ants" and "aunts" were definately the most fun this week! We put together our ant farm and sent off for our supply of ants. We also looked at pictures and talked about my dd's aunts and wrote letters to them.

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I have never laughed so hard at a picture book as I did with this one -- it is a MUST read!

Highlights:
* My son is a Medieval enthusiast! From knights to castles, swords and shields to catapluts. We spent most of our time studying everything we could find on this time period suitable for a 1st grader.

* His favorite activity was building a castle from various size cardboard boxes and paper towel rolls. He covered them with construction paper and drew on stones. We used yarn to make a working draw bridge and paper towel rolls to make knights.

* My daughter's favorite was baking a "lovely, light, luscious, delectable cake".

We also made the Food Pyramid board game from the FIAR vol. 3 archives.

* A hit with the whole family was a trip to the University of Oklahoma's annual Medieval Fair, the largest free Medieval Fair in the country.

* Each child made a sword and designed and created their own sheild and pennant.

* The first time we studied this book, with my daughters, they really got into the drama assignment,and wroted, directed and acted out their own play while their Aunt Jean filmed the whole adventure. W wonderful keepsake of one of the most fun studies we've done so far!

Additional Books used:
Build Your Own Castle -- by Caroline Pitcher
Fast Forward Castle -- by Nicholas Harri
A Soldier's Life A Visual History of Soldiers Through the Ages -- by Andrew Robertshaw
Knight -- Eyewitness Books by Christopher Gravett

Web Links
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We have done this book twice.

Highlights:
*We finished making a log cabin out of milk cartons that we had started while studying Down, Down the Mountain. We made covered wagons from Pop Tart and oatmeal boxes and greased paper to make windows.
*We listened to bluegrass music to try to pick out the banjo.
*We did a character study of Betsy Ward and compared her with the woman of Prov. 31.

Additional Books used:
Wagon Wheels - Barbara Brenner The Shepherd Boy - Kim Lewis The Friendship Tree - Caple Wool Kit from Pendelum Wool Co.

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Highlights:
*The highlight of this study was an impromptu overnight trip to Kansas with my parents. We were able to visit a living museum and see a working wooden grain elevator. Of course the kids were just as impressed with the motel room.

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his is the book that got my toddler interested in books. The second time I read it he came running across the room, climbed into my lab and hugged the book saying "my book". From then on we had to read the book during his nap time because he would carry the book around everywhere and not let anyone else read it. He now loves to listen to books being read.

Highlights:
*The girls loved comparing and discussing the differences in Gouache and watercolor. (Debating is a favorite pastime here!). They also had a lot of fun with the symbolism of the man with the "$$$" on his suit and enjoyed drawing their own pictures with similar symbolism.
*We wound up the study with a homeschool group tour of Pizza Hut where the kids got to make their own pizzas and tour the restaurant kitchen and food storage areas.

Additional Books used:
Pete's A Pizza -
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